There may not be Flood in the part of the Halo story that is included in Halo 4, but that doesn’t stop us from from thinking about them. Do they have feelings? Can they remember things that happened to them before they were converted? Could scientists eventually have found a cure in using the hosts DNA to revert the process?
The answers to the questions above may remain to be seen, but here we can get to know these zombie-like creations one type at a time, thanks to HBO and other fan-sites. As posted at HBO:
Flood Mechanics
Infection Form
The Infection Form is quite small, and vulnerable to physical attack. To compensate, it is very numerous, and rather fast. It can move across the ground, or along walls, and for short distances is capable of large jumps. If it comes in contact with an energy shield, it explodes, or “pops”… but when there is no shield it will latch on to the host and embed itself in the host’s chest cavity, taking over all motor functions.
Carrier Form
Within the Carrier Form the spores (Infection Form) are created/nurtured. The Carrier form come in two flavors – they’re either Flood-infected Grunts (the Flood don’t consider Grunts an effective combat form), or they’re Warrior forms (either human or Covenant) so badly damaged they’re no longer fit for battle. The reason their legs are so short is because they’re missing the bottom half, in most cases – their ‘feet’ were once knees. In either case, their primary purpose is the same: they serve as a portable incubator for future spores. The Carrier Form is quite slow, but responds to damage by simply releasing its progeny in an explosive rush; it is capable of killing or disabling nearby beings (friend or enemy, it’s indiscriminate) when it detonates. It will detonate itself if it gets close enough to an enemy target.
Warrior Form: Covenant
The Covenant Warrior Form is a formidable enemy; it is capable of a deadly physical attack using its tentacles (once the arms of the Covenant host), as well as having the ability to wield both human and Covenant weapons. It is very fast, very strong, and can jump great distances. Due to the Flood Controller’s indifference to its host’s discomfort, it is nearly immune to some weapons (notably the sniper rifle), but reliance on the host life support systems render it vulnerable to shotgun blasts. It does not have the capability of using Covenant Energy Shields, though it does, on occasion, use Active Cloaking Devices.
Warrior Form: Human
The Human Warrior Form is significantly smaller than the Covenant version (due to the comparative differences of the host bodies), and is both slower and weaker than its Covenant counterpart (though it has the same jumping ability). It shows a preference for human weapons, and can be deadly with a shotgun in close quarters. As with other Warrior Forms, it is capable of sustaining massive physical damage before being unusable to the Flood Controller; in fact, as long as the chest cavity and legs remain intact, it will continue to try and fight.
Source: http://halo.bungie.org/flood/
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Halo Nation, a website rich in details of the Halo story, describes The Flood as:
“One single Flood spore can destroy a species.”
~Rtas ‘Vadum
The Flood (Latin Inferi redivivus meaning “The dead reincarnated” or The Parasite, as they are known to the Covenant), are a species of highly virulent parasitic organisms that can reproduce and grow by consuming sentient life forms of sufficient biomass and cognitive capability. The Flood was responsible for consuming most of the sentient life in the galaxy, notably the Forerunners, during the 300-year-long Forerunner-Flood War. The Flood presents the most variable faction in the trilogy, as it can infect and mutate Humans and Covenant species, such as Sangheili, and Jiralhanae, into Combat Forms. They are widely considered to be the greatest threat to the existence of life, or, more accurately, biodiversity, in the Milky Way galaxy.
Both Wikipedia and Halopedia state that Vic DeLeon spent six months of pre-production time refining the Flood’s look and the Flood-like textures of infested building interiors. I for one am grateful for that time spent, because The Flood has been the source of many hours of enjoyment in my gaming time.
~ CHa0s
Do you wish The Flood had made a comeback in Halo 4? Come tell us about it in the HD Forums >>
And in honor of this “Flood back to Halo 3 Weekend”, I leave you with this gem: